The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-10-09
FIRST USE OF A REAPER IN INDIANA.
1t Was in 1851, but the Machine Did Not
Come into General Use Until Several Years

Mr.. j. S. Wilson, of Park avenue, was an ac-
ciden tai witness of the first use of a reapng ma
chine in this State. It was employed by the
elder Nicholas McCarty, the founder OF the IN
dustrial interests of Indianapolis, in 1851, a few
years before his death, bis Bayou farm,
now the site of the chief portion of the flourish
ing suburb of West Indianapolis The farm at
that time under the charge of Cyrus T.
Boaz, the father OF VIM. Boaz. well known in
railroad affairs. An agent of Mccormick brought
a machine here to exhibit its qualities in the
harvest of 1851 or 1852. Mr. Wilson is not sure
of the year, but sure that it was of these
two A large wheat field bordere6 the south
side of the old Bayou road" which is now inn
proved into fine shaded avenue. in a western
extension of Morris street. In this field the
reaper was set to work, about the same time
that it was making the exhibition celebrated by
Punch. in the ode dedicated to Brother Jona-
than" during the first Worlds Fair" of 1851.
It may be worth while to quote the stanza
"By Yankee Doodle too, you're beat
Downright in agriculture.
With his machine for reaping wheat
Chawed up as by vulture.
This was the same machine that set to
work at about the same time the bayou
farm" Mr. Wilson says that he and some ac-
road, along the old bayou road from the ford
just below the present Vlncennes railway
bridge, when they heard the clash and rattle OF
the reaper cutting wheat in the adjacent field.
They halted and looked at light that was hard
ly less strange to them than army OF cherubs
cutting down the field with celestial sckles.
They saw that the machine cleared q wide swain
as IL went Oh, but how it worked was a puzzle
beyond their guess. However, machine reapng
didn't como int general use for some years
And in the meanwhile machine "threshng" and
separating" had become an established process
farms of all grades of importance, frem the
ten acre field to the 'qusrtsr section
The first exhibition of machine threshing
Cured at the State fair in 1852 There were
two machines entsred-one by Hasselman & Vim
ton. of the Eagle machine works, of this city,
and one by Gaar d Co. of Richmond. Threshers
separators had been used before. privately.
but this the first public display of the
process. Not ono person in a Thousand had ever
seen such machine or knew what it was for.
1t was the first fair held by the State Agricult-
ural Society. Indiana was just bursting the
pod OF her embryonic devevslopment from q
backwoods into an industrial community. Her
railway system had just begun to operate fully
enough TO give ready access to the capital from
the central counties of the State. The grub was
growing through the crystals state and begin
ming to move its wings for the butterfly trans
formation. The contest between the competing
machines took place near the site OF the fount-
State fair sroans. Tns sA two 0en machines
were set close together. and wagons loaded with
sheaves of wheat were waiting to supply each
it required. The reminiscent thinks the
Gsar "thresher' began the contest The wheat,
it cleaned from the spout of the machine,
by all pronounced admirable. In a certain
time-hve minutes ths reminiscent now recalls
the affair-a certain number of bushels of clean,
merchantabie wheat had been MADE ready for
market. About hrlshel emptied into the
bag basket about every two minutes. The
Hassslman machine was then set to work with
the same supply. and little behind. The
machinery had somehow got out of gear and
didn't work steadily or smoothly as expected.
The ''Gaar' machine took the premium by
thin margin. This ended the first public exhibit
ton in this State OF agricultural process
carried on by machinery There was contest
in the of the reaping machines the
BAYOU farm.